#freezing eggs for the future

[jamesonsam]

Egg Freezing: Empowering Women for the Future

Egg freezing, also known as oocyte cryopreservation, is a remarkable medical procedure that allows women to preserve their eggs for future use. This technology has gained tremendous popularity in recent years and is widely regarded as a proactive approach for women who have the desire to delay childbearing for various reasons. Egg freezing is definitely an astounding breakthrough in reproductive technology and is widely seen as a blessing for women for various reasons. Here are some exciting aspects of egg freezing and how it can empower women for the future: 

 1. Preserving Fertility for Future Family Planning

One of the most exciting aspects of egg freezing is its ability to preserve a woman’s fertility at a time when she may not yet be ready for children. Women are born with a finite number of eggs, and their fertility declines with age, particularly after the age of 35. By freezing eggs at a younger age, women can preserve their fertility and have the option to conceive later in life when they feel more prepared—whether they are focused on their career, education, or personal aspirations.

2. Gaining Control Over Reproductive Choices

Egg freezing provides women with a level of control over their reproductive future that was previously unimaginable. Instead of feeling pressured to have children by a certain age, women can take proactive steps to manage their fertility. This can be especially valuable in a society where many women are choosing to delay marriage and childbirth for various reasons. With egg freezing, the decision to start a family can be made on their own timeline, free from the constraints of age-related fertility decline.

3. Improved Success Rates with Advancements in Technology

In recent years, advancements in egg freezing technology have significantly improved the success rates of the process. Modern techniques, such as vitrification (a rapid freezing method), have made it easier to preserve eggs with higher survival rates, leading to better outcomes when women decide to use their frozen eggs for in vitro fertilization (IVF). These advancements mean that egg freezing is becoming a more reliable option for women who want to maximize their chances of a successful pregnancy later in life.

4. Empowerment for Women in the Workplace

Women today are more engaged in the workforce than ever before, and many are choosing to delay motherhood in order to focus on their careers. Egg freezing can empower women to pursue professional goals without the pressure of worrying about their biological clock. Whether climbing the corporate ladder, pursuing higher education, or achieving personal milestones, egg freezing gives women the freedom to focus on their aspirations while maintaining the possibility of having children when they are ready.

5. Reducing Pressure from Biological Clocks

Biological clocks can be a source of stress for women, especially as they approach their 30s and 40s. Egg freezing can alleviate the pressure by offering a safety net for fertility. By freezing eggs at a younger age, women can increase their chances of having children later in life, potentially eliminating the anxiety that comes with the natural decline in fertility. This allows women to make decisions based on personal readiness rather than a perceived “deadline.”

6. Providing Options for Women with Medical Conditions

Egg freezing is also an invaluable tool for women facing medical conditions that may affect their fertility. For example, women undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatment for cancer can freeze their eggs before starting treatment, preserving their fertility in case their reproductive system is affected. Similarly, women with conditions like endometriosis or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may choose egg freezing to ensure that they have viable eggs for future pregnancy, especially if their conditions impair fertility.

7. Aiding Single Women and Women Without Partners

Egg freezing offers single women and women who are not in a relationship the opportunity to preserve their fertility and pursue motherhood at a later stage, even if they have not yet found a partner. This is especially important in today’s society, where women are increasingly choosing to marry and have children later in life, or even consider single parenthood. Egg freezing allows them to maintain the possibility of having biological children when they are ready, regardless of their relationship status.

8. Enhanced Peace of Mind and Reproductive Security

Knowing that fertility has been preserved provides women with peace of mind. The thought of having children later in life can be less daunting when women know they have viable eggs stored, ready for use in the future. This enhanced security allows women to make decisions about relationships, career, and lifestyle without the worry that their fertility window is closing.

9. Paving the Way for Future Generations

Egg freezing is not just a benefit for individual women—it also represents a step toward greater reproductive equality for future generations. By empowering women to control their reproductive timeline, egg freezing can contribute to a more equitable society where women have equal opportunities to pursue both their personal and professional goals without sacrificing their reproductive options.

10. A Groundbreaking Option for Women Facing Age-Related Infertility

Age-related infertility is a significant concern for many women. As women age, the quality and quantity of their eggs naturally decline, making it harder to conceive. Egg freezing allows women to “freeze” their fertility at a time when they are most fertile, and when they are ready to start a family, they can use their younger, healthier eggs. This breakthrough provides women with a powerful tool to combat age-related infertility, giving them a better chance at successful pregnancy later in life. 

Egg freezing is a groundbreaking advancement that gives women the ability to take control of their reproductive futures. Whether for career, personal choice, or medical reasons, egg freezing offers a level of flexibility and freedom that was once unattainable. It allows women to preserve their fertility, reduce the pressure of biological clocks, and make life decisions without compromising on their desire to have children. As egg freezing technology continues to evolve, it promises even greater opportunities for women to design their lives and futures on their terms—empowered, informed, and in control.

For women considering egg freezing, Prashanth IVF provides exceptional services, ensuring that each step of the process is handled with the utmost care and expertise. With a team of highly skilled fertility specialists, state-of-the-art technology, and a compassionate approach, Prashanth IVF offers women the best chance to preserve their fertility and plan for the future. Whether you’re looking to freeze your eggs for medical reasons or to have more control over your reproductive timeline, Prashanth IVF is dedicated to supporting your journey every step of the way.

[organicmatter]

Well I did not catch that my snails had laid eggs so I have a ton of baby snails now. They are the cutest things ive ever seen!

[drforambhuta]

Innovations in Egg Freezing Techniques

Vitrification (Rapid freezing technique): Rapidly freezing eggs by plunging them into liquid nitrogen, avoiding ice crystal formation and increasing survival rates.

Cryoprotectant Solutions (Improved protection during freezing): Novel solutions minimize toxicity and prevent ice crystal formation during egg freezing and thawing.

Ultra-rapid Vitrification (High-speed cooling): Cooling eggs at an incredibly rapid rate using a high concentration of cryoprotectants to preserve structural integrity and increase survival rates.

Time-lapse Imaging (Continuous monitoring): Continuous observation of frozen eggs' development through imaging, aiding in selecting viable eggs for future use.

Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) (Genetic screening): Analyzing thawed embryos for genetic abnormalities or chromosomal disorders to improve successful outcomes and reduce genetic risks.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML): Using algorithms to analyze data and predict optimal retrieval time, assist in selecting viable eggs, and personalize recommendations.

Improved Freezing and Thawing Protocols (Enhanced survival and viability): Fine-tuning protocols considering optimal cooling/warming rates, duration of cryoprotectant exposure, and specialized equipment.

Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) (Enhanced fertilization): Injecting a single sperm directly into a thawed egg to improve fertilization and embryo development.

Social Egg Freezing (Non-medical reasons): Innovations to accommodate the increasing demand for egg freezing by women who choose to delay childbearing for personal or career reasons.

Fertility Preservation in Cancer Patients (Cancer treatment and future fertility): Innovations providing cancer patients with improved fertility preservation options, such as rapid referral systems, ovarian tissue cryopreservation, and advanced stimulation protocols.

You can contact a good fertility specialist like Dr. Firuza Parikh from Mumbai to get more information about egg freezing and assisted reproductive health techniques.

[kedreeva]

Hi Ked! Having chickens when I finally get my own place has been something I've wanted for a while (am currently putting it on hold despite in the near future acquiring said own place due to H5N1). However, I have become a little enamored of quail recently in comparison. My goal would be to have eggs and fluffy yard buddies, do you recommend either one over the other?

If you want birds that can free roam your yard, it can't be quail. They are game birds, like pheasants, and will just leave (or get immediately eaten by.... everything, but especially hawks and domestic cats.

If you don't mind having them contained, then 100% quail are a better option right now.

Quail don't take up nearly the same space; an average sized quail tower takes up approximately a 2x3 foot space, and depending on how many levels you have and how densely you populate them can hold anywhere from 15-40 quail. That amount of space cannot even house 1 chicken long term.

Quail are not NEARLY the same initial investment; on average people end up investing around $200-500 in quail equipment/caging/birds depending on how into it you want to get, and $2k+ in appropriate chicken equipment/caging/birds. These costs can vary greatly depending on how handy you are and what connections you have to acquire scrap materials, or how fancy you want to get.

Since quail are not kept on raw ground, they have MUCH fewer health problems on average- they rarely get parasites, they rarely pick up bacterial infections, they rarely pick up anything viral (and if their caging is kept in a more enclosed/covered space there is almost no chance of them picking up HPAI). Since they're contained, there's not very much chance for them to injure themselves (although like any bird, if there's a way they have the will to find it).

Their eggs are more nutritionally dense than chickens. You can compare nutrition per gram anywhere online.

They're (in my experience) more consistent layers than chickens; give them light and feed, and they will lay daily year round, only taking a break to molt in the fall.

Quail's full lifespan is shorter than chickens. This may seem like a downside, but the productive years for a chicken are generally 2-5 years, with a lifespan that should be 7-12 years. Quail have the same 2 years of production, but on average only live 3-5 years, so even if you don't want to butcher the spent hens (which most people do), you aren't caring for nonproductive birds for many years.

Quail are easy to butcher at home with almost no equipment- all you need is a hefty, sharp pair of kitchen shears, a 5g bucket (with or without a liner), and some ice water in a big bowl. No plucking, no scalding, no killing cones, nothing special for cleaning. They can be packed for freezing whole in vacuum sealed sleeves.

If you get or build rollout cages, the eggs gently roll to the front of the cage and "out" into the tray, where they can be picked up clean!

If you get or build wire-bottom cages, you don't technically have to buy bedding. Cost efficient! You can provide resting boards or have solid-bottom portions of the cage, and giving them a sand bath bin will be REALLY exciting for them.

Coturnix quail come in such a huge variety of color and patterns that you can surely find some type you like.

Both species can come with aggression issues- it takes FAR less time to breed it out of quail because they hit breeding age in a matter of weeks, not months.

The downside to quail is that most coturnix quail are not terribly cuddly. you might be able to imprint one (I did once, because my pigeons hatched him and then didn't like that, so I took Robert in), but the majority will just be cute look-don't-touch birds. They are FASCINATING to watch though, so it works out imo.

the downside to both species is. the roosters crow. terrible noises in both cases. I couldn't handle chicken roosters.

Anyway, I think that in all honesty, when MOST people are considering getting into chickens, what they ACTUALLY want is the experience of having quail. Small, cute, easy to handle/raise, genetic manipulation through generations of selective breeding easy to hatch, cute eggies. There's a LOT of people getting into chickens right now because they think it will be a solution to the expensive eggs in the supermarket, but it won't be. They'll end up spending more on the chickens than they ever would have on just getting eggs, and throw a stone in a chicken group on fb and you'll hit 17 people who have had horrific health issues related to parasites, illness, injury, predation, etc.

Meanwhile.... quail groups are largely chill and questions are usually about colors and feed/housing (since most of the problems are bad feeding habits or caging, or genetic issues).

[sk270114]

The process of matching surrogates with intended parents typically involves several steps and may vary depending on the country or agency involved. Here is a general overview of how surrogates are matched with intended parents:

Initial Screening: Surrogates and intended parents are typically required to go through an initial screening process. Surrogates may need to meet certain criteria such as age, overall health, previous successful pregnancies, and mental and emotional stability. Intended parents may also be required to meet certain criteria, such as being in a stable relationship or having a medical need for surrogacy.

Application and Profile Creation: Surrogates and intended parents usually fill out detailed applications and create profiles. Surrogates provide information about their medical history, lifestyle, and personal preferences. Intended parents provide information about their desire for surrogacy, their backgrounds, and what they are looking for in a surrogate.

Matching Process: Agencies or professionals involved in surrogacy will review the profiles of surrogates and intended parents to find potential matches. They consider factors such as compatibility in personal preferences, values, and expectations. The matching process aims to find a good fit between the surrogate and intended parents, ensuring compatibility and a positive working relationship.

Consultations and Meetings: Once a potential match is identified, consultations and meetings are arranged between the surrogate, intended parents, and any other involved parties, such as medical professionals or legal advisors. These meetings allow everyone to discuss expectations, establish a connection, and address any concerns or questions.

Legal Process: After a match is confirmed, the legal aspects of the surrogacy arrangement come into play. Both the surrogate and intended parents usually have separate legal representation to ensure their rights and responsibilities are protected. Legal agreements are drafted, covering topics such as compensation, medical procedures, potential risks, and parental rights.

Medical Procedures and Surrogacy Journey: Once all legal requirements are met, the medical procedures for the surrogacy journey can commence. This typically involves fertility treatments for the intended parents, embryo transfer into the surrogate's uterus, and subsequent prenatal care for the surrogate. The surrogate and intended parents work closely with medical professionals throughout this process.

It's important to note that the specifics of the matching process may vary depending on the country, surrogacy laws, and the policies of the surrogacy agency or professionals involved. It's advisable to consult with a legal and reputable surrogacy agency or professional to understand the exact process in your specific situation or jurisdiction.There are best ivf specialists like Dr Firuza Parekh who can guide you with information on ivf, ivf treatment, ivf procedure, surrogacy.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The future of Amazon coders is the present of Amazon warehouse workers

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in BURBANK with WIL WHEATON TONIGHT (Mar 13), and in SAN DIEGO at MYSTERIOUS GALAXY on Mar 24. More tour dates here.

My theory of the "shitty technology adoption curve" holds that you can predict the future impact of abusive technologies on you by observing the way these are deployed against people who have less social power than you:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/11/the-shitty-tech-adoption-curve-has-a-business-model/

When you have a new, abusive technology, you can't just aim it at rich, powerful people, because when they complain, they get results. To successfully deploy that abusive tech, you need to work your way up the privilege gradient, starting with people with no power, like prisoners, refugees, and mental patients. This starts the process of normalization, even as it sands down some of the technology's rough edges against their tender bodies. Once that's done, you can move on to people with more social power – immigrants, blue collar workers, school children. Step by step, you normalize and smooth out the abusive tech, until you can apply it to everyone – even rich and powerful people. Think of the deployment of CCTV, facial recognition, location tracking, and web surveillance.

All this means that blue collar workers are the pioneering early adopters of the bossware that will shortly be tormenting their white-collar colleagues elsewhere in the business. It's as William Gibson prophesied: "The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed" (it's pooled up thick and noxious around the ankles of blue-collar workers, refugees, mental patients, etc).

Nowhere is this rule more salient than in Big Tech firms. Tech companies have thoroughly segregated workforces. Delivery drivers, customer service reps, data-labelers, warehouse workers and other "green badge," low-status workers are the testing ground for their employer's own disciplinary technology, which monitors them down to the keystroke, the eye-movement, and the pee break. Meanwhile, the "blue badge" white-collar coders get stock options, gourmet cafeterias, free massages, day care and complimentary egg-freezing so they can delay fertility. Companies like Google not only use separate entrance for their different classes of workers – they stagger their shifts so that the elite workers don't even see their lower-status counterparts.

Importantly, almost none of these workers – whether low-status or high – are unionized. Tech union density is so thin, it's almost nonexistent. It's easy to see why elite tech workers wouldn't bother with unionizing: with such fantastic wages and so many perks, why endure the tedium of meetings and memos? But then there's the rest of the workers, who are subjected to endless "electronic whipping" by bossware and who take home wages that look like pocket change when compared to the tech division's compensation. These workers have every reason to unionize, living as they do in the dystopian future of labor.

At Amazon warehouses, workers are injured at three times the rate of warehouse workers at competing firms. They are penalized for "time off task" (like taking a piss break). They are made to stand in long, humiliating body-search lines when they go on- and off-shift, hours every week, without compensation. Variations on this theme play out in other blue-collar sectors of the Amazon empire, like Amazon delivery drivers and Whole Food shelf-stockers.

Those workers have every reason to unionize, and they have done their damndest, but Amazon has defeated worker union drives, again and again. How does Amazon win these battles? Simple: they cheat. They illegally fire union organizers:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/31/reality-endorses-sanders/#instacart-wholefoods-amazon

And then they smear unions to the press and to their own workers with lies (that subsequently leak):

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/03/socially-useless-parasite/#christian-smalls

They spend millions on anti-union tech, spying on workers and creating "heatmaps" that let them direct their anti-union efforts to specific stores and facilities:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/21/all-in-it-together/#guard-labor-v-redistribution

They make workers use an official chat app, and then block any messages containing forbidden words, like "fairness," "grievance" and "diversity":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/05/doubleplusrelentless/#quackspeak

That's just the tip of the iceberg. A new investigation by Northwestern University's Teke Wiggin draws on worker interviews and FOIA requests to the NLRB to assemble a first-of-its-kind catalog of Amazon's labor-disciplining, union-busting tactics:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23780231251318389

Disciplining labor and busting unions go hand in hand. It's a simple equation: the harder it is for your workers to form a union, the worse you can treat them without facing labor reprisals, because individual workers' options are limited to a) quitting or b) sucking it up, while unionized workers can grieve, sue, and strike.

At the core of Amazon's labor discipline technology is "algorithmic management," which is exactly what it sounds like: replacing middle managers with software that counts your keystrokes, watches your eyeballs, or applies a virtual caliper to some other metric to decide whether you're a good worker or a rotten apple:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/26/hawtch-hawtch/#you-treasure-what-you-measure

Automation theory describes two poles of workplace automation: centaurs (in which workers are assisted by technology) and "reverse-centaurs" (in which workers provide assistance to technology):

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/19/the-shakedown/#weird-flex

Amazon is a reverse-centaurism pioneer. Take the delivery drivers whose every maneuver, eyeball movement, and turn signal is analyzed and inevitably, found wanting, as workers seek to satisfy impossible quotas that can't even be met if you pee in a bottle instead of taking toilet breaks:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/20/release-energy/#the-bitterest-lemon

Then there's the warehouse workers who are also tormented with impossible, pisscall-annihilating quotas. Some of these workers are fitted with haptic wristbands that buzz to tell them they're being too slow at picking up an item and dropping it into a box, pushing them to faster, joint-destroying paces that account for Amazon's enduring position as the most worker-maiming warehouse employer in the nation:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/05/la-bookseller-royalty/#megacycle

In his paper, Wiggin does important work connecting these "electronic whips" to Amazon's arsenal of traditional union-busting weapons, like "captive audience" meetings where workers are forced to sit through hours of anti-union indoctrination. For Wiggin, bossware tools aren't just a stick to beat workers with – they're also a carrot that can be used to diffuse a worker's outrage ahead of a key union vote.

Algorithmic management isn't just software that wrings more work out of workers – it's software that replaces managers. By surveilling workers – both on the job and in social media spaces (like subreddits) where workers gather to talk, Amazon can tune the "electronic whip," reducing quotas and easing the pace of work so that workers view their jobs more favorably and are more receptive to anti-union propaganda.

This is "twiddling" – exploiting the digital flexibility of a system to "twiddle the knobs" governing its business logic, changing everything from prices to wages, search rankings to recommendations, in realtime, for every customer and worker:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

Twiddling combines surveillance data with flexible business logic to create an unbeatable house advantage. If you're an Amazon shopper, you get twiddled all the time, as Amazon replaces the best matches for your searches with paid results. If you buy that first product result, you'll pay an average of 29% more than the best match for your search:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

Worker-side twiddling is even more dystopian. When a nurse is assigned a shift by an "Uber for nurses" app, the app checks whether the worker has overdue credit card bills, which trigger lower wages (on the theory that an indebted worker is a desperate worker):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/18/loose-flapping-ends/#luigi-has-a-point

When it comes to union-busting, Amazon's found a new use for twiddling: lessening the pace of work, which Wiggin calls "algorithmic slack-cutting." The important thing about algorithmic slack-cutting is that it's only temporary. The algorithm that reduces your work-load in the runup to a union vote can then dial the pace of work up afterward, by small, random increments that are below the threshold at which they register on the human sensory apparatus. They're not so much boiling the frog as poaching it.

Meanwhile, Amazon gets to flood the zone with anti-union messages, including mandatory messages on the app that assigns your shifts – a captive audience meeting in every pocket.

Between social media surveillance and on-the-job surveillance, Amazon has built a powerful training set for algorithms designed to crush workplace democracy. That's how things go for Amazon's warehouse workers and delivery drivers, and the shelf-stockers at Whole Foods.

But of course, the picture is very different for Amazon's techies, who enjoy the industry standard of high wages and lavish perks.

For now.

The tech industry is in the midst of three years' worth of mass layoffs: 260K in 2023, 150k in 2024, tens of thousands this year. None of this is due to a shortfall in profits, mind: Google laid off 12,000 workers just weeks after staging a stock buyback that would have funded their salaries for 27 years. Meta just announced a 5% across-the-board headcount cut and that it was doubling its executive bonuses.

In other words, tech is firing workers not because it must, but because it can. When workers depend on scarcity – instead of unions – as a source of power, they dig their own graves. For well-paid, scarcity-based coders, every new computer science graduate is the enemy, eroding the scarcity that your wages depend on.

Amazon coders get to come to work with pink mohawks, facial piercings, and black t-shirts that say things their bosses don't understand. They get to pee whenever they want to. That's not because Jeff Bezos is sentimentally attached to techies and bears personal animus toward warehouse workers. Jeff Bezos wants to pay his workforce as little as he can. He treats his tech workers with respect because he's afraid of them, because if they quit, he can't replace them, and without their work, he can't make money.

Once there's an army of unemployed coders who'll take your job, Jeff Bezos doesn't have to fear you anymore. He can fire you and replace you the next day.

Bezos is obviously incredibly horny for this. Like most tech bosses, he dreams of a world in which entitled hackers can't call their bosses dumbshits and decline to frog when they shout "jump!" That's why Amazon PR puts so much energy into trumpeting the business's use of AI to replace coders:

https://www.hrgrapevine.com/us/content/article/2024-08-22-amazon-cloud-ceo-warns-software-engineers-ai-could-replace-your-coding-work-within-2-years

It's not just that they're excited about firing coders and saving money – they're even more excited about transforming the job of "Amazon coder," from someone who solves complex technical problems to someone who performs tedious code review on automatically generated code barfed up by a chatbot:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/01/human-in-the-loop/#monkey-in-the-middle

"Code reviewer" is a much less fulfilling job than "programmer." Code reviewers are also easier to replace than programmers. A code reviewer is a reverse-centaur, a servant to the machine. Every time you hear "AI-assisted programmer," you should substitute "programmer-assisted AI."

Programming is even more bossware-ready than working in a warehouse. The machines coders use are much easier to fit with surveillance technology that monitors their performance – and spies on their communications, looking for dissenting chatter – than a warehouse floor. The only thing that stopped Jeff Bezos from treating his programmers like his warehouse workers is their scarcity. That scarcity is now going away.

That's bad news for Amazon customers, too. Tech workers often feel a sense of duty to their users, a "vocational awe" that drives them to put in long hours to make things their users will enjoy. The labor power of tech workers has long served as a check on the impulse to enshittify those products:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/25/moral-injury/#enshittification

As tech workers' power wanes, they don't just lose the ability to protect themselves from their bosses' greediest, most sadistic urges – they also lose the power to defend all of us. Smart tech workers know this. That's why Amazon tech workers walked out in support of Amazon warehouse workers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/19/deastroturfing/#real-power

Which led to their prompt dismissal:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/14/abolish-silicon-valley/#hang-together-hang-separately

Tech worker/gig worker solidarity is the only way workers can win against tech bosses and defeat the shitty technology adoption curve:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/13/solidarity-forever/#tech-unions

Wiggin's report isn't just a snapshot of Amazon warehouse workers' dystopian present – it's a promise of Amazon tech workers' future. The future is here, in Amazon warehouses, and every day, it's getting closer to Amazon's technical offices.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/13/electronic-whipping/#youre-next

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[turn3tifosi]

operation cookie heist

pedri x gf!reader, pau cubarsi x platonic!reader, lamine yamal x platonic!reader, héctor fort x platonic!reader

your son brings home friends

Pedri should have known something was up when he overheard Pau whispering to Héctor Fort like a kid plotting a heist.

“No, seriously,” Pau insisted, voice low but not low enough. “Her cookies are nutritionist-approved. Do you know how rare that is? And she gives them to me. For free.”

Héctor’s eyes widened. “You’re telling me there’s a secret loophole to Barça’s diet plan?”

Pedri’s blood ran cold.

Your phone rings just as you’re settling into the couch.

“Mi vida,” Pedri’s voice is suspiciously sweet. “We haven’t gone on a date in a while, have we?”

You squint. “Pedri, we literally had dinner together last night.”

“Exactly. Too long.” He’s already talking faster. “I’m picking you up in twenty. Wear something cute.”

You don’t even get to question him before he hangs up.

Pau’s call comes exactly seven minutes later.

“Hey,” he says, voice already preemptively pouting. “So, hypothetically… if I, Héctor, and maybe Lamine showed up at your place tonight… would you maybe, possibly… make us those cookies?”

You bite back a laugh. “Sorry, Pau. I have plans.”

A dramatic gasp. “With who?!”

“Your ‘dad.’”

The silence is devastating.

Pedri, the smug little devil, grinned the entire drive over.

The date is nice. Pedri is smug the entire time, grinning like he just won the Champions League by simply existing in your presence.

You get home, still laughing at how ridiculous he’s being—until you open the door.

Pau, Héctor, and Lamine are sitting on your couch like three overgrown puppies who just got caught chewing the furniture.

“Surprise!” Pau says, grinning way too wide.

Lamine holds up a grocery bag. “We brought ingredients!”

Héctor adds, “And we won’t even make you cook! Just… supervise?”

You bit your lip to keep from laughing as Pedri muttered under his breath, "I could murder three teammates. Just three. That’s not too many, right?"

It takes approximately four minutes for you to ban all three of them from the kitchen.

Pau somehow got flour in his hair. Héctor cracked an egg… directly onto the counter. Lamine almost put salt instead of sugar into the mix before you snatched the measuring cup from him.

You rolled your sleeves up. "Alright, since you three clearly can’t be trusted, I’m making the batter. You can watch like good little footballers."

Pau groaned. "This is unfair."

Héctor sighed. "We’ve been benched."

Lamine, ever the optimist, perked up. "But we still get cookies, right?"

Pedri, now in an excellent mood, threw an arm around you as you mixed the batter. "Yeah, but I get the first one."

Pau narrowed his eyes. "That’s favoritism."

Pedri grinned. "Damn right it is."

Pau glares. “You’re a terrible father.”

“And you’re a terrible son.”

Lamine sighs. “Can we at least lick the spoon?”

You point the spatula at him. “If any of you move before I say so, no cookies.”

Three professional footballers immediately freeze like statues.

By the time the cookies are done, the three of them have migrated to the floor in front of the oven, staring through the glass like it’s the most fascinating thing they’ve ever seen.

“They’re rising,” Lamine whispers, awed.

“That’s what cookies do, genius,” Pedri says, but even he can’t hide his smile when you pull the tray out and three pairs of eyes follow it from the oven to the counter, hypnotised.

The second the cookies were cool enough, all three of them lunged—only for you to hold the plate just out of reach. “What do we say?”

“Please,” they chorused, slightly surprised by their own politeness.

You sighed, handing them over. “I can’t believe I’m babysitting Barça’s future.”

Pedri, wrapped an arm around your waist, pressing a kiss to your temple. “And yet, you’re so good at it.”

You roll your eyes, but you’re smiling.

Yeah. You’re definitely stuck with them.

[dnot-look]

Just imagining being abducted by aliens that want to test human fertility and capability with their alien race to reproduction

AFAB body, bad English I'm don't really care enough to beta, aliens, eggs that kind of stuff

Waking up on a freezing cold table and completely naked isn't exactly what you expect first thing in the morning. Especially when you remember clearly of going sleep in your own bed and with clothes.

But guess what, surprise, you have been chosen in a small group os humans to be tested to be a new breeding cow for a alien race! They can't reproduce among their own species so they always look in other planets for keep their race alive.

They choosed a little group of humans and now they will be testing if they are compatible to their needs, don't be scared, they will take good care of you... And well if they earth and humans aren't useful for them maybe they will exterminate the whole planet but this is just some small details!

You are completely naked in the table, feeling like those frogs from medicine students, they still do that? Your hands and feet are tied by chains in the table, not too tight but you definitely can't escape, not that you would have any change even if you escape, you are years from distance to earth silly, you are in space!

The room is all weird, white walls and bright lights in the roof, almost hurting your eyes. There is a lot of shelves full of weird things, bottles, machines, d-dildos?!

Before you can try indentify anything, since you still don't have any fucking idea of why they kidnapped you and why you are naked, maybe they will literally open you and check your organs, the door opens and you hear steps.

Three men enter the room, they are definitely aliens you can say that just looking at their skin colors. One have some dark green, the other one has a purple one with some lighter spots, and the last has a grey skin.

They don't have multiple arms or many eyes, besides their eyes has a black background instead of white, and their eyes have also other non common colors. All of them have orange eyes, a little yellow or red.

Initially they ignore you, even if you try to talk and ask what is happening, they just continue as you are a dog barking. One of them, with the green skin, goes to a machine that looks some kind of computer, multiples screens flooting even if you can't understand a single word, even numbers can't look humans to you. There's no much you can by just trying to lift your head, still stuck in the table.

The other one grabs a chair e some type of tablet, the one with purple skin, and approach you, starting to write down things, still ignoring you though.

The other one, with the grey skin, looks to be preparing something, you can't actually see him, but you heard the songs of things being moved, glass sounds or other things. At least by the sounds nothing looks sharp, but duh you can't be sure, you can only pray.

"Stats?" The grey one ask, you can see his medium black hair, the ends of the hair are silver and looking him by his back he could be a human. They are definitely not the alien you saw in movies, well, maybe the hot version of them?

"Heart rate stable, anxiety levels high but not alarming, the inserted translator seems to work well considering the vocal response, confirmation with future tests" The purple one respond, wait how they know about your heartbeat?! Anxiety levels?! Wait what they mean about translator?! They put something inside you?! Like with a surgery?!

"The test instruments?" Again the grey one, he is the leader? Something like that?

"everything is prepared" you imagine that this is the grey one talking, you heard the sound of something getting closer and then he is back in your point of vision, with a little table by his side with some weird things... But you don't have time to look at them properly, because the grey one is now approaching you.

"Salutations human, you have been choosed in a select small group of humans in propose of checking your fertility compatible with our race, with the final goal of reproducing" He says and all you do it's some little screams and beg for mercy, actually you aren't sure if that is really what you are talking, you are nervous, confused, scared, you can't actually say nothing properly.

"don't be scared human, all the test are painless and won't hurt you, our goal is only analys all your body and determine if your body is able to hold a baby of our race." The green continue talking, ignoring your fear and looking at your with even some kind of boring?! Like you are just an annoyance!

"that means we are going to check a lot of fun things on you" the purple one says, puting his tablet away and sitting on the chair, he puts his elbows on the table, looking excited and amused. "We have to be sure that each little part of you it's perfect you know?"

Even with you crying and squirming on the table, they just ignore you.

"Yes, our test is is very thorough. Every detail must be checked" the grey says, he looks excited too, but just a little more chill about it.

"let's start with the basic, we need to check the vaginal canal depth, also how much it can stretch to be able to put the eggs" E-Eggs? They don't produce babies like humans?! They have eggs?! Real eggs?! Like what dragons?!

"After that we need to see natural lubrification..." He keeps listing like that is just some normal medical exam, not that they are literally going to open your pussy up and see if you are going to be a good breeding cow!

"oooh I like this part, is always fun to see what make them all horny and shy, those humans look to have some funny parts though..." The purple one looks at you as you are a prey, almost a toy, to play and see what reactions he can get from you.

"Don't forget our goal, don't get carried away because of some exciting " the grey one says and the purple agrees, but you feel he don't actually listened.

"After that we already going to try the real fertility test?" The grey ones ask, and the green now is finally looking at you.

"Yes, is they pass the other parts of the test then we will start the breeding teste, if they are able to get pregnant and incubate the eggs properly, also surviving after laying them so they will considered a success" The green says and the others agrees. W-wait they are talking serious? They really just breed you and our eggs inside you? You don't know even their names! Not that change anything you have been literally kidnaped their names don't matter!

You try to talk, tries to respond and protest, but again they just ignore you. This time is even worst, the grey one just get a gag from the other table and lock into your mouth. Now all you can do it's muffle some words and try to shake your head.

"Starting the application of the aphrodisiac in reason to calm down the subject and guarantee comparation with the test" the grey one says and you can see him getting a needle. Aphrodisiac?! They going to drug you so you can be easier?!

"maybe a test without the aphrodisiac will be necessary in the future..." The green says, writing down something.

"don't worry human" the purple one says, stroking your cheek gently. "We are going to take care of you, it's going to be so good breeding you, we are going to be sure you will love having our eggs, until you are completely full..." His other hands touchs your belly and you feels your soul leaving your body. "And once all you can think is being fucked and breed, you going see it's not that bad being with us, okay?" He say with a smile in his face.

"Alright, let's start the test."

[captain-huggy-bear]

Congrats again on 1k Lottie!! Super deserving and I love a good celly!

For your celly, can I request Luke Hughes with "wanna take this to the bed?" ??

Thank you and have a lovely day <333

Thank you again, Meg! I hope you enjoy this :) I didn't feel like writing smut but I had this idea because I feel like Luke is the sort of guy who really doesn't expect anything from you and doesn't rush you at all. He's a good egg like that. 18+ NSFW Themes

Big requests/full fic/big idea requests are closed at the moment but drabble and prompt requests are still open. Writing Masterlist

You're pretty certain that kissing Luke Hughes might be a terrifying new addiction. He doesn't know but he's the first person you've ever kissed and the way he does it is addictive.

Luke kisses you like a form of worship, from the slant of his mouth over yours, the soft bite of his teeth against your bottom lip and the caress of his tongue, to the way his hands cradle your face, thumbs brushing across your skin like you're the most fragile thing in the world. Like he's scared you're not quite real.

Every swipe of his tongue has him moaning into your mouth and it makes you feel both nervous and powerful at the same time, that you can do this to him. That he's the one leaning over you on the couch, your hands in his curls, but you're the one that's bringing him to his knees.

When his mouth pulls away from yours he's heaving in breaths, like you've sucked all the air from his lungs. Luke's cheeks are flushed pink, pupils so dilated that his eyes are almost black before he's leaning down again. You chase his lips with your mouth but he doesn't kiss you there, planting open mouthed kisses across your jaw and down your neck, stopping to suck on the spot behind your ear in a way that has your eyes fluttering closed. It's all too much and not enough, unfamiliar sensations rocketing through your body as his hips grind down into yours. Your eyes shooting open at the feeling of his dick, hard and solid, against you through his jeans. It's both delicious and terrifying, a new experience that has your fingers gripping his hair tighter in a way that only has Luke groaning against your skin.

"Wanna take this to the bed?" His voice is a low rumble, raspy from kissing you, raspy in a way that sends a shiver down your spine and tingle to your toes...but his words? Oh, his words have you freezing, short circuiting, unprepared and unready for such a proposition.

The way you freeze has him second guessing himself, maybe you're not that into him? Maybe you were just kissing him to be polite? Has he made you uncomfortable? Shit...he hopes he's not fucked this up.

Luke's scrambling off you without hesitation, not wanting to be a creep who forces himself on someone. Scared he's already made you uncomfortable tonight.

"Not that you have to! It's...this is good! I'm...fuck, I'm sorry..."

"It's fine, Luke...I..." You force yourself to sit up, trying to calm him down because really, you're okay. He's fine it just caught you off guard and maybe you aren't ready for sex yet with him, but you certainly want it to be a possibility in the future.

"No, I'm sorry...shit." He's up and pacing in front of the couch, running his hands through his curls until they're a frizzy mess. On the 4th lap back in front of you, you reach out and grab his hand to pull him to a stop, tugging until he moves to sit back down next to you.

Your knees are touching, his bouncing up and down nervously, as you hold his hands in your own. You're avoiding his eyes because you're not sure how to say what you want to say without putting him off or freaking him out. But, you also don't want him to think he's done anything wrong because he hasn't.

"You don't have to apologise...I just...I like kissing you." You start there because that's easy to admit even if your cheeks feel warm. Luke's leg stops bouncing at the admission, feeling a little less like he's forced himself on you.

"Okay?"

"But I...I've never...you're the first person I've ever kissed..." You watch the cogs whirl behind his eyes, the click as he realises that if he's only ever kissed you...then that's probably all you've ever done.

"Oh, okay." There's a relief in him knowing, a relief in his casual response, the way he seems to understand without any judgement. Luke's fingers twist with yours until they're intertwined, reassuring, sweet.

"I just, if we take it to your room I don't want you to get ideas..." It's not that you don't want to have sex with Luke...you do...one day, just...right now even kissing is a lot, it's new, it's big and you're not sure you've worked your way up to anything more yet. You want to, God, you want to because Luke makes your tummy flip and your panties wet but...not yet.

"Ideas?"

"I...I'm not ready for that yet." It's silly...how you can't seem to say it to his face. You're old enough, you should be able to say the word sex to a guy's face...but it's Luke and...and you're trying not to scare him off. People always say that guys hate to wait, that sex is something they need. There's part of you that's worried that Luke will decide you're not worth the wait.

"You mean sex?"

"Yeah...I'm sorry, I don't want to disappoint you..."

The way his face drops isn't because you're disappointing him. It's not because he's upset with you. No, his face drops because how could you possibly think that he'd be upset with you for not wanting to sleep with him yet? Like the only thing he was here for was sex...when in reality he really liked you, liked you enough to spent what little free time he did with you, liked you enough to always try to get flowers delivered to your apartment when he was away on a roadie, liked you enough to tell his grandma about you...

"Hey, baby..." He untangles his hands from yours and for a second you think he's going to pull away entirely, until his hands cup your cheeks and force you to look up at him, "It's not a disappointment, it's okay...you set the pace. You wanna just kiss and cuddle?"

You nod, voice gone at the easy way he puts the power back in your hands, the easy way he removes all your worries and fears of rejection in an instant.

"Then we just kiss and cuddle, bed's comfier, doesn't mean we have to go any further."

"Are you real?"

His laugh is shocked out of him, but there's a tinge to it, a hint of sadness because no one should ever think that what he was doing, letting you take it at your own pace, was some impossible standard.

[bones4thecats]

Diasomnia with their Fae! Knight! S/O

Type of Writing: Poll Result Characters: Malleus Draconia, Lilia Vanrouge, Silver, and Sebek Zigvolt Name: Diasomnia with their Fae! Knight! S/O Original Poll Link: Here

A/N: I'm sorry that this took a while to post, I just finished with a larger thing with my family, so. But, anyways, I do hope you all enjoy this, and look out, on Sunday, January 7th, 2024, requests will open for an hour. I'll put out an announcement when it happens! Enjoy, my lil bubbles🫧

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🐉 Okay, the entirety of Diasomnia is shocked

🐉 You were the personal guard of Malleus', being sent everywhere he went, and because of this situation pushed upon you both, conversations were the only thing keeping the atmosphere from fogging up with awkwardness

🐉 Malleus asked you about your home life, so hearing how you descended from a army-covered family of faes, he just smiled and chuckled as you told stories on how strong, yet dumb they were

🐉 He loves to watch you spar with Silver and Sebek, trying to help Lilia teach them, though, since you weren't used to being delicate when fighting, you nearly always ended up on the ground apologizing as you tried healing a small bruise of cut you gave them

🐉 Both you and Malleus have an understanding because of your roles, do not let your feelings overwhelm your jobs, since that could result in people using you against each other, seeing weakness

🐉 You definitely have had to deal with Leona, so while he tried threatening Malleus one day, you grabbed your sword and held it to his throat, making him stiffen and the rest of the group freeze with awkward facial expressions

🐉 You may be rough around the edges, but Malleus likes that about you, and if someone tried harming you, he'd have their heads, and you'd do the same for him, no doubt

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🦇 He and you served together during the Human vs Fae war long ago

🦇 You were one of the higher-ranked army members during battle, and you two were known as the 'Blood-Bathers', but, despite how the humans you slayed viewed you both, you cared for one another with a ton of passion

🦇 When Lilia found Malleus' egg, you helped him raise the future-ruler, from helping him control his magic, to helping him gain information on fighting and the outside world, you were there just as much as Lilia was

🦇 Lilia also watched as you laughed when Malleus burned his bangs, just staring at you with a face frozen in betrayal and shock before tackling you and messing up your hair as Malleus laughed

🦇 You may be a knight, but you had just as much of a sense of humor as your husband, from dad-jokes to puns, you both slayed people with them

🦇 Your husband loves to watch you get along with Silver, treating him like your own despite you both knowing he wasn't, and watching you train with him made Lilia feel like his whole life and the reason he survived everything from his past was just to be here, watching you and his family grow

🦇 Lilia also loves to spar with you himself, and watching the three boy's faces all erupt with sparkles and admiration to the two of you, watching as you battled, it was like you were in a dance, flowing together like the soulmates you were

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⚔️ Silver met you because of your chosen occupations, being a knight

⚔️ He loves to train with you, watching you hold your sword in your hands was amazing to him, and seeing how you flowed with the weapon like you were one was amazing to him

⚔️ This guy absolutely refuses to give up on your relationship, despite knowing you were going to outlive him, since he was a human with a limited lifespan, while you were a fae with a limitless one

⚔️ Many see you guys as the sleepy soulmates, as after doing literally anything, you guys would rest underneath a tree with animals surrounding you

⚔️ You are a very good fighter, one that even puts Lilia in the need for effort when sparring, and your boyfriend loves seeing how his adoptive father smiles and pats your head with such care when your able to knock him off his feet

⚔️ Silver will try staying up and watch you help train new first years with their magic, but, unsurprisingly, he falls asleep, prompting you to carry him like a princess back to your dorm-rooms

⚔️ Being a knight, you wake up early, and since your lovely boyfriend here has many sleeping issues, he pins you down and makes you sleep longer than normal

⚔️ Malleus, Lilia, and Sebek all love watching Silver hug you from behind and rest while you glare at those who call him pathetic and a disgrace to the dorm for being human, you really were meant for him, huh?

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⚡ Sebek was nervous when he first met you

⚡ You were a very well-respected knight within Briar Valley's army, so, being a trainee and you being quite popular among your peers, it made him feel lesser, and he hates that

⚡ He watched as you stood beside Malleus, sending threatening glares to others who dared try harming him, verbally or physically

⚡ Unlike Sebek, you did not express your emotions as passionately, and, funnily enough, that was what got you interested in him, as not many of your fellow knights knew how to express themselves very well

⚡ He gets flustered every time you pinned him down, as you smirked and would tease him with your fangs showing

⚡ You teased others like Lilia, but, you only showed your real emotions to those you cared for, and for Sebek, you showed everything you felt to him

⚡ For some reason, every time he watches you grit your teeth with your fangs showing, he feels ashamed of himself, since he was a half-human, half-fae, while you were a pureblood

⚡ Due to this, you comfort him when he feels weaker than others. He may be a half-blood, but, as you tell him

" I love you for you, not for your percentage of fae-blood. You are an amazing being, loud, but amazing... and I love you for that, Sebek. "

[luxthestrange]

BNHA Incorrect quotes#31 ...Dramaaaa~

Hawks is happily feeding your chickens(That you keep as pets for eggs people!)-Cut to the front door kicked open by a furious You as You stomps around the house, mumbling angrily

KFC!Y/n*mumbling angrily* Ooh! Such a fucking asshole! That little motherfucker! I just wanna take my finger up and shove it up his fuckin' little thing!-

Upon coming up to the table, You slam your coffee cup on it disturbing Dabi(Who crashes in your new shared home with keigo...a lot), You then pass Dabi and hit a button titled "Nut button!!" that summons a cardboard cutout of a man saying, "Hi! I'm a chad!" then throws a knife and lunges at said cutout, Keigo looks at You, disturbed

Hawks: Y/n, Hon' Is everything okay?

You hiss back at Keigo in response, disturbing him even more, but You manage to calm down

KFC!Y/n*Freezes and looks at him ashamed and guilty for snapping at him* Yeah. I just...bumped into an ex...

Hawks: Oh! Oh...

KFC!Y/n*retracts knife* He just kept going on about how he has money now, "a bright future," and "a bigger cock".

Hawks & Dabi*Both disturbed at the last part* Wait, what?

KFC!Y/n*raises voice, eye twitching as veins pop on your forehead* Every time I see his stupid face, I can't help it! I just need to-

You punch the cabinet beside you in frustration

Who should be the secret ex...I wonder...

Part 6 of:

[game-boy-pocket]

Maybe i'm just hanging out around the wrong places where the new Donkey Kong design is being discussed, but Donkey Kong fans sound a lot like what people say Sonic fans sound like right now, and they're being very alarmist about the future of Donkey Kong. I've heard really shitty things being said. Things like "Nintendo is doing this because they hate Rare, they're trying to spite them! They want to erase Rare's Donkey Kong!" and "This is the end of DK as we know it, this art style is prepping him to be swallowed up as a permanent Mario character now. We'll never get a solo DK game again!"

It's nonsense. I understand not liking the new design, but giving him a new design at all can only be seen as a sign that Nintendo has big plans for the franchise in my book.

Let me go over all the evidence to suggest that Donkey Kong is going to become a huge IP in the near future, and not merely a bit player in the Mario spinoffs.

Donkey Kong had a huge presence in the Mario movie, there was more Rare references in the movie than we've seen in a long time, and DK himself was probably more active in the movie than even Luigi. Why would they portray DK the way they did instead of being an escaped zoo animal kidnapping mayor Pauline if their plans for him were to absorb him into the Mario franchise forever? Miyamoto also chose to address the design very directly, which he didn't do for other characters. He had a hand in the design, this is not "Illumination Donkey Kong" this is Donkey Kong, as updated by his own creator. So you might as well divorce this design from Seth Rogan in your brain, it's still gonna be the voice of Ganondorf coming out of this ape ( most likely. I still miss Grant Kirkhope peresonally )

Super Mario Odyssey's New Donk City was obviously an homage to Arcade Donkey Kong, except it wasn't JUST an homage to the arcade era. There were more Rare easter eggs than you could shake a stick at, every street sign was named after something from Donkey Kong Country including Animal Buddies Kremlings and Kongs not yet present in the Retro Studios games, you can see the full list [here].

After years of selling Donkey Kong toys and other merchandise with "Super Mario" logos, they stopped doing that a few years back. Now, Donkey Kong merch is using actual Donkey Kong Branding. Again, this is not something they would do if they wanted Donkey Kong to be swallowed up by Mario.

Donkey Kong got it's own lego set, which includes Funky, Dixie, and Cranky, yes they were in tropical freeze, but they wouldn't be using those characters at all in new merchandise if their plan was to dissolve DK into Mario.

www.donkeykong.com used to redirect to the Nintendo home page. Now it leads to a portal for all things Donkey Kong. If you test a number of other Nintendo IP, Star Fox, F-Zero, Warioware, Yoshi's Island, what do you see, you either get redirected to Nintendo's front page ( currently advertising Donkey Kong Country Returns HD ) or a picture of Wario saying "nope, doesn't exist."

Nintendo always seems to add Donkey Kong stuff in batches to NSO and Nintendo music. This hasn't happened for other franchises, but they always make Donkey Kong stuff a big deal.

King K. Rool did so well in the Smash Ballot, that, while he was not realizable at the time ( because secretly the Smash Ballot was never about Smash 4 ), they added a Mii costume into Smash 4 to throw fans a bone. DK Vine has an insider reporting that Nintendo was stunned by his popularity, they were unaware he had so much support. Retro Studios wanted to add him into the Switch port of Tropical Freeze, but it was decided Smash Bros would be the more meaningful re-introduction for the character. That's all rumor, but the fact is, they chose King K. Rool for Smash Ultimate.

THEY OPENED A GOD DAMNED THEME PARK. Does Star Fox have a theme park? Does Kirby have a theme park? Is there an F-Zero ride at Super Nintendo World? Did Pikmin get anything other than minor appearances in the Mario lobby? DOES ZELDA HAVE A THEME PARK?? No to all of these... Donkey Kong has a theme park, it's modeled after his IP, and while it's main influence is Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze, the theme park was in the works so long ago that those were the most current games at the time. They might not have much merch outside of DK and Diddy but it's not like the Mario park has the most diverse merchandise either. I didn't see a single piece of Wario merch while I was there. I'm sure as the years go on, more merchandise will come to these parks. I doubt they'll be selling the same things forever.

Donkey Kong has new key art made for a calendar for 2026. And yes, Diddy will be in the calander too. No word on other characters but K. Rool was in a 2020 Donkey Kong Calendar. Why would they be making DK merch for TWENTY TWENTY SIX if they want to kill his franchise and absorb it into Mario??

And finally the big rumor, again, from a DK vine insider. A 3D Donkey Kong game was reportedly in development from Vicarious Visions before Activision pulled the plug because they didn't want to develop single player games anymore after Skylanders sold poorly. DK being a guest in Skylanders just makes this rumor seem even more likely. Rumors say that Nintendo finally decided to make Donkey Kong a series they would develop internally like Mario, and bring him home to Japanese devs, instead of always relying on partners to develop Donkey Kong.

The Mario Kart redesign further supports this, as it heavily resembles the way Japanese artists have been drawing Donkey Kong for years, if you look at his gallery in the Mario Wiki, you'll notice the resemblances long before the movie design was revealed.

Last thing, they chose to close out the Nintendo Switch's life with remakes of Mario vs Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong Country Returns. They could have remade anything, but they think Donkey Kong is valuable enough that people would want to play it. Yeah, it's fully priced, which sucks, but just take it as a sign that Nintendo sees Donkey Kong as a premium brand.

Donkey Kong fans have been dooming about the state and future state of the IP for so long that they're ignoring all the signs right in front of their noses that the IP is very healthy, and I don't think there's a reality in which we don't see a new Donkey Kong game in the first few years of the Switch 2's life, and it's not going to involve Mario. I will say I can't guarantee they'll bring back every Animal Buddy, Kong, and Kremling the fans have been missing, but it would be extremely weird and dumb to dump all that after... well *gestures to the bulleted list above*

Donkey Kong is going to be just fine.

[drforambhuta]

The following are the primary techniques in assisted reproductive procedures:

Intrauterine Insemination (IUI): IUI is a minimally invasive method placing sperm directly into the uterus, useful for male factor infertility, unexplained infertility, or cervical mucus issues, with a 10-20% pregnancy chance per cycle.

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF): IVF procedure involves egg retrieval, fertilization in a lab dish, and embryo transfer into the uterus. It's recommended for various infertility issues, with a 40% average success rate.

Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI): ICSI enhances fertilization in severe male factor infertility cases, resembling IVF success rates.

Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT): GIFT combines IVF and IUI elements, suitable for couples with religious objections to embryo culture, with success rates similar to IVF.

Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT): PGT screens embryos for genetic abnormalities during IVF, reducing genetic disorder risks but with ethical considerations.

Egg Freezing (Oocyte Cryopreservation): Egg freezing preserves eggs for future use, influenced by the woman's age, career, health, or personal reasons.

Sperm Retrieval Techniques: TESE and PESA retrieve sperm for men with male factor infertility issues, depending on the type of azoospermia.

Donor Gametes and Embryos: Donor gametes are options for individuals unable to use their own due to genetic disorders or other factors, with ethical considerations.

Surrogacy: Gestational surrogacy is common, involving contracts and counseling. Traditional surrogacy is less frequent due to legal and emotional complexities.

Emerging Technologies: ART advances with technologies like mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) and artificial gametes, offering new possibilities for infertility treatment and personalized medicine.

You can contact the best fertility specialist in Mumbai, Dr. Firuza Parikh, who is currently working at H N Reliance Hospital, for a thorough evaluation and fertility treatment plan based on your health condition.

[salty-autistic-writer]

"Hold On A Little Longer And Believe I'm Here To Stay"

(Third Chapter) Buck is humming a happy tune while stirring scrambled eggs. 

It’s morning and he’s in a good mood. Things are finally going back to the way they should be. They talked for hours. Told each other everything. They said I love you to each other. Tommy stayed the night. And now he’s still here. This time, Buck took care to wake up first and make breakfast.

He wants to take care of Tommy. Wants to shower him with love and show him that this is what life can be like. That all the pain of the past is a lasting scar, still aching, but it doesn’t mean it has to break open and destroy the future too.

Buck pours coffee into two mugs when Tommy plods into the kitchen, squinting into the light with slightly reddened eyes and hiding a yawn behind the back of his hand. Even moments after waking up, no, especially shortly after waking up, Tommy looks gloriously soft. Buck wants to run his fingers through his tousled curls, wants to bite his thick neck, and cling to his warm body. But he has to focus on the eggs right now, one lingering glance was enough to have them stick to the bottom of the pan, and Buck hastily stirs them around again.

His heart flutters when Tommy hugs him from behind, resting his chin on Buck’s shoulder. “You’re making me breakfast?” He asks, voice raspy.

“Of course.”

“Thanks. You didn’t have to,” Tommy mutters into the crook of Buck’s neck, his warm breath tickling Buck’s skin.

Buck hums. “I wanted to feed you. Just like you fed me all those times.”

Tommy chuckles. He retreats, his warmth disappearing, and Buck resists the urge to turn around, reach out, wrap his arms around Tommy, and cling to him like a koala for the rest of the day. Instead, he puts the pan off the stove and pours two mugs of coffee.

“How did you sleep?” He asks, placing one mug in front of Tommy, who sits down, yawning again.

Tommy shrugs. “Not bad. Not that good either. Guess all the crying gave me sore muscles.”

Buck winces sympathetically. He knows from experience how draining and painful crying can be. And Tommy really did a lot of it. “Uh, I think there’s Tylenol in the house, if you need it?”

“No, I’m fine,” Tommy says, smiling when Buck hands him his plate. “This smells so good. Thanks. I have to hurry, though. I got a shift later.”

Buck frowns, his hand freezing on its way to his own plate. Tommy’s words surprise him. They also trigger another déjà vu. Buck is used to that by now. To that shiver that runs down his back and to his stomach dropping as if it’s riding a loop in a rollercoaster.

“You … you want to go to work today?” He asks, baffled. His thoughts immediately start to race. Only yesterday, he held a sobbing Tommy in his arms. Only yesterday, he learned about Tommy’s depression and his self-destructive thoughts. And now, just like that, Tommy wants to leave for work? As if nothing happened? It makes no sense.

I was looking forward to taking care of you for a day. Showing how much I love you. Until you believe me. Until you … stay for good.

Stay.

Tommy raises a brow. “Yeah. Sure. What else am I supposed to do? It’s not like I’m sick or injured. I can’t stay at home forever.”

Buck takes a deep breath. He can’t play this game. He has to say something. Don’t fuck this up, Buckley. Not again.

“Uh. No offense. But … after everything you told me. Don’t you think you should talk to someone first? Like - like A therapist?” He asks, fingers tapping against his knee.

Tommy tenses. Buck can see it. Can see it in the way his hand freezes with a fork of scrambled egg on its way to his mouth, his jaw grits, and his teeth press together. Even his shoulders hunch up. But Tommy tries to play it off. Chews the eggs and swallows before he answers.

“We talked, didn’t we?” He asks, clearly doing his best to sound calm.

“We did,” Buck admits hesitantly. But I’m not a therapist.

Tommy smiles. It doesn’t reach his eyes. “Then you know I’m fine, Evan. I had a few bad days, but trust me, I had worse. Being here with you makes me happy. And I will come back to you after my shift, I promise. I just have to go back to my routine, alright? I need it.”

“Alright.” Still. It doesn’t sit right with him.

But he can’t force Tommy. He can only hope this isn’t a bad idea.

Tommy hugs Buck before he leaves and gives him a kiss. “See you later.”

“Be safe,” Buck says, leaning into the embrace, his heart pounding against Tommy’s chest. He doesn’t want to let go. He wants to stay like this and forget the world. But that’s not possible. It’s never possible. Time passes. A life has to be lived. Which means they can never know what happens next. But he has to hope for the best.

Too soon, the door closes. Tommy is gone. Buck is alone.

He sits back down heavily, chewing on his lip. Maybe he should talk to someone about this. He really wants to. Feels the need to share all those thoughts and worries with someone. But that wouldn’t be fair to Tommy, right? Tommy didn’t give his consent. So Buck is alone with it. It’s okay. Tommy is going to be okay. He will come back. He will stay. And they will talk.

He thinks back to the moment Tommy told him about what he was thinking about at the bar and shudders. But … He’s not thinking about it anymore, right? Tommy said he’s okay now. Said the voices aren’t so loud anymore.

Buck swallows. This has to be enough, right? Tommy trusted Buck with his thoughts, his trauma, and his fears. Now it’s Buck’s turn to trust Tommy to tell him if something is not okay, right? Right.

Why does it feel so wrong then to let Tommy leave? * Tommy runs a finger over the smooth side of the helicopter and smiles. It’s not been long, but he missed this. Missed going to work. Missed putting on his flight suit. Missed flying. This is what he’s good at. This is where he can be useful. He can fuck up his life, he can mess up in his relationships, but once he’s in the air, he knows what to do, he knows the rules and all the steps he has to take to make sure everyone survives.

“So, is it true what I heard through the grapevine? Buck and you are back together?” Lucy asks when they are in the air, giving him a glance and a smirk. “Damn. That’s a massive love bite there on your neck.”

Tommy smiles, ducking his head and rubbing at the spot on his neck. “Yeah. We are.”

“I’m glad. You two deserve each other,” Lucy says.

Tommy frowns. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“He’s a yapper, you’re a listener,” Lucy explains. “And I know he makes you happy. These past few weeks, you looked like a sad, wet cat. But look at you now. You have that sunshine Buckley-induced glow back on your face. Good for you.”

She pats his arm, and Tommy chuckles. “He does make me happy,” he agrees, his heart fluttering. He feels warm. Optimistic. For the first time in a long time, Tommy feels like things might be okay. He looks at the landscape underneath them, at the clear sky in front of him. His head is quiet. His thoughts are sorted. He can do this.

He’s okay. Everything is fine.

Everything is finally back to the way it should be.

Right? *

Tommy can do this.

He takes another sip of his beer, enjoying the way Evan’s shoulder nudges him whenever his boyfriend moves. They’re at a bar with Howie and Maddie. Now that they are officially back together, it means Tommy is getting invited too. He’s there without anyone wondering.

For some reason, they finally got to talk about the infamous Maurice incident that still makes Tommy wince since it gives him flashbacks to his childhood, when he hid in a closet from the mad rooster his uncle owned on his farm. But it also makes him smile. The situation was kind of funny. And he got to witness Captain Nash meeting his future wife. A memorable event.

“Who the fuck is Maurice?” Evan asks Tommy, his brows furrowing. “You didn’t tell me about a Maurice.”

Howie laugh-snorts into his beer. Maddie pats him on the back and chuckles.

Tommy smiles. While Howie explains, he watches how Maddie’s hand slips into his so naturally. They’re cute. And this is nice. It’s nice to be a part of their life again. After … Well. He didn’t really think he would speak to any of them ever again. Breaking up with Evan also meant turning away from the 118. And they turned away from him. Silence followed.

They don’t talk about it. And they don’t need to. It’s in the past. And Tommy gets the cold-shoulder reaction. After all, they are Evan’s family, not his. 

But Eddie … That stang. Tommy has to admit that to himself. It’s been a while since he connected that well with a friend. They had some things in common. It was nice to have someone to play basketball or to spar with. He misses Chris too. But well. This is life. Things like this happen. People stumble into your life. And some of them leave again. It’s normal. It happens. Tommy will survive.

He glances at Evan, who is still laughing about Maurice … and suddenly, he feels like something’s wrong. Dread curls around his heart. Squeezing like a cold hand. Making it harder to breathe. His mind tells him he shouldn’t be here. Tommy frowns, confusion joining the fear. There’s no reason to feel like this. Everything is fine.

Evan and he are officially back together. Everyone knows they are. No one acts strange about it. They just say, “Hey, it’s nice to see you. How are you?”

It’s the usual script. Tommy can do that. He can smile and say “great, how about you?” because he knows people like if you make it short. If you give them the chance to talk about themselves. He knows how to do this. He knows how to be the cool, confident pilot boyfriend who Howie knows from work and Maddie … Well, Tommy didn’t spend much time with Maddie. Not yet. There wasn’t the opportunity. But she seems okay with him dating her brother again. She said so. Everything is fine. They want him here. He can enjoy this. He can be happy. He can let go and laugh a little. The weeks of floating in grey fog are over.l 

Tommy forces himself to pay attention. To follow the conversation, even though the buzzing of the people surrounding them is too loud and the air is too warm, he feels like he’s slowly suffocating while keeping a smile on his face.

“Do you even know that Buck caused a flour shortage in LA because of you?” Howie asks, raising a brow. Oh. So the topic changed already? Tommy makes himself raise a curious brow. “Flour shortage?”

“Yup,” Howie nods seriously. “Bread. Heaps of bread. Then he baked every cake known to mankind. And then moved on to cupcakes. Scones. God. So many scones. I swear I still can taste them. Can still feel those dry crumbs in my throat. Please don’t break up with him again, Tommy. I can’t eat any more baked goods …”

“Chimney,” Maddie says pointedly, nudging him with her elbow.

“What? Buck can bake and cook for Tommy now, right, Buck?” Howie asks.

They all chuckle. Tommy joins in automatically. But he has a hard time following the conversation. Feels like he’s trying to push his thoughts through a thick wall. And on the other side waits a familiar abyss of guilt, pulling him down.

Tommy grits his jaw. All these weeks, Evan has been stress baking. Because Tommy left him. Because Tommy hurt him. Because he had to find a way to deal with being … abandoned. Again. Tommy’s chest clenches. He starts to feel sick in his stomach.

“Why did you break up anyway?” Howie asks.

Of course, this question would come eventually. Of course, they are curious.

“I panicked,” Tommy says truthfully. "I ran like a chicken because I was scared to commit." Evan takes his hand, his thumb drawing circles on Tommy’s skin. It helps. A little.

Howie hums. Maddie looks at Tommy with something like … recognition in her eyes.

“And now? Now you’re not panicking anymore?” She asks gently, tilting her head.

Tommy looks at Evan. “Not that much anymore, no. But sometimes I do wonder why he would want me back. I’m old and boring.”

“Come on now,” Evan says, shaking his head. “You’re a pilot and you know Muay Thai. You will never be boring.”

“Oh, so you agree I’m old?! I’m nothing but a hag to you, huh?” Tommy teases, almost feeling back to normal while focusing on Evan. On Evan’s smile. Evan’s eyes. The warmth of Evan’s hand. Evan’s love. He clings to that. This is real.

“I didn’t say that,” Evan says in playful offense. And oh, it’s almost a déjá vu to when they buried Billy Boils together. My own boyfriend won’t even kiss me. That’s not true. Tommy grins, wraps an arm around Evan, and kisses his cheek.

This time, it’s Howie and Maddie who look at them fondly.

Mission achieved, Tommy thinks, relieved. He can do this.

It doesn’t matter that inside, he feels like a rubber band. Being pulled further apart with every second. But still holding on somehow. Tense. Ready to rupture. And the thoughts just keep on coming.

You tell yourself you’re okay. You tell them you’re great. But how are you really doing? Are you still falling apart inside? Are the bad thoughts slowly eating you alive without you really noticing? Are you drowning again? Well, even if you do, don’t let them see. They are here to have fun, not to catch a glimpse of your messed-up mind. You don’t want to be a buzzkill, right? It’s not their responsibility to deal with your issues. It’s not their task to fix you.

Right. Tommy keeps on smiling.

Until they leave and go home.

When they reach the house, Tommy fumbles for the key, his hand trembling a little. Damnit. Did he really drink this much? Or is it the fear? He can feel it. Still lingering. Still trying to tell him that he should leave before he causes even more damage. Before things fall apart again. Good things don’t last. They don’t. They -

Evan puts a hand on his arm, frowning. “Tommy? Are you -”

No. I don’t want to answer that right now. I don’t know if I can.

Before Evan can finish the question, Tommy pulls him into a desperate kiss. Evan gasps and moans, his lips parting willingly to let Tommy inside, tasting like alcohol. His hands land on Tommy’s hips. He pushes. Once again, they stumble into the house, through the hallway, into the bedroom without being able to let go of each other.

Tommy’s back hits the bed. Evan climbs over him, hungrily mouthing and biting at Tommy’s neck, while pulling at shirts that cling to sweaty skin. “I love you,” Evan whispers in the darkness.

You do right now. Let me feel it. Make my head shut up. Make me feel alive again, Tommy thinks, and closes his eyes. *

Tommy can do this.

They are basically living together now. In Eddie’s old house (which still sounds a little strange). Tommy only occasionally goes to his place to get something. Or to have five minutes of pathetic spiralling without Evan having to witness it.

It’s better this way. To keep the ugly parts out of their relationship and enjoy the nice things together. Like this evening. They had dinner and are now relaxing on the couch. Evan is watching something on his laptop, his brows furrowed in concentration. Tommy is trying to read a book Lucy recommended to him - “Read it fast so we can talk about it at work” - but he keeps losing track of the story, the food, and the warmth, making him feel increasingly tired.

He’s almost about to doze off when Evan’s voice cuts through the silence and wakes him up.

“Tommy?”

Tommy blinks his eyes open. “Hm?”

Evan looks at him, chewing on his lip. “You would tell me, right?” He asks. “You would tell me if … if you weren’t feeling okay?”

Tommy frowns. He immediately feels alert. Why is he asking this now? Wasn’t I careful enough? “Yeah. Of course. Why?”

“You seem … distracted. Like you’re in your own world? I don’t know. I’m just worried.”

“I’m fine,” Tommy says automatically. “Just tired. You don’t have to worry about me, Evan.”

“Okay,” Evan says. He doesn’t sound convinced. “Just … Please be honest with me, alright? Don’t cut me off again. I’m here. If you need to talk …”

“I know,” Tommy interrupts, probably too harshly, judging by the way Evan winces. “Sorry. It’s been a long day. I really just need a little rest, okay?”

Evan studies him for a moment, then nods. He turns back to his laptop. Tommy goes into the bedroom and curls up in bed, closing his eyes. He isn’t able to fall asleep. His mind won’t shut up. Grey fog rolls through it, and his thoughts are like thunder. You’re making him worry again. Worry that you’re not being honest. Eventually, he’s not going to want you anymore. You’re too damaged.

Tommy groans and reaches up to pull at his own hair, his breathing picking up as panic rushes through him in waves. No. That’s not true … Evan loves him. That’s real. Tommy should be fine. He should be happy. He shouldn’t be feeling like this. Shouldn’t be so scared.

You’ve been left by people who were supposed to love you before.

Tommy tries to fight it. He really does. But he’s been fighting his own mind for so long, he doesn’t know how much energy he has left.

With sudden calmness, he realises: He can’t do this.

When Tommy quietly steps into the living room, he finds Evan asleep on the couch. He looks so peaceful. Evan shouldn’t have to worry. He doesn’t deserve that. He deserves someone who can keep up with his positive energy. Not someone who he constantly has to worry about. It was a mistake to come back. It was a mistake to tell Evan about the grey fog. But Tommy can fix this. And he’s going to.

Tommy gives Evan a gentle kiss on the head. “I’m sorry,” he breathes.

And leaves.

When Buck wakes up, the house is too silent. He blinks, sitting up and looking around, his stomach sinking. Tommy isn’t there.

The bad feeling hits him immediately. Swallowing, Buck reaches for his phone and opens his chat with Tommy, typing: Hey. You okay? Where are you?

He sends the message and waits, impatiently, bouncing his feet and nibbling at a fingernail.

Tommy doesn’t answer.

Minutes pass. Turn into half an hour. Buck’s throat tightens. God. He can’t do this. He can’t just sit here and wait. Maybe … Maybe he’s worrying too much. Maybe he’s overreacting, and Tommy just went for a run, a walk, or wanted to get something from the grocery store. Right. But … What if Tommy is in trouble? What if he had like … a depressive episode? A bad one?

Buck’s chest clenches. He remembers. Maddie. Disappearing. Chimney's search for her. The ocean. He shudders, calling Tommy this time, pressing the cold phone to his ear, his own heartbeat a booming echo in his head.

Tommy doesn’t pick up the phone. Not the first time Buck calls. Not the second time. Not the third time either.

Buck swallows. His throat feels too tight. He can’t breathe right. A cold hand of fear and worry curls around his heart. It presses, until there’s no space left for calming thoughts. For hope. What’s going on? Where is he? Why did I have to fall asleep? He wasn’t fine. I knew it. I could see it. I … I should have insisted that he tell me what’s going on. Should have pushed again. Fuck.

Now Tommy left. What if he never comes back?

Another idea pushes through the panic. Maybe Tommy went home. To get something. Or to have time for himself? Maybe Buck should go and check. He grabs his jacket and keys, running to his car. *

Tommy is not at his place either.

Buck stands in front of the closed door, staring at the dark, empty windows, and he can feel himself spiraling. A panic attack, familiar fear rising like a tsunami wave, consuming him. Burying both hands in his hair, Buck starts to pace, unable to keep still, unable to think … What is he supposed to do now? He doesn’t know where Tommy went. He can’t run around the city, searching without a plan. He can’t …

He can’t do this alone.

The realisation is sudden and violent. Buck swallows. He has to call for help. He has to tell someone. Even if Tommy might be mad at him … No. That can’t be what he focuses on right now. Because if something happens to Tommy, Buck wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

He takes a few deep breaths, steels himself, searches for the contact in his phone, and calls. He doesn’t have to wait long.

“Bobby? Hey, uh, sorry, I know it’s late. But I … I think I need help.”

[sk270114]

Surrogacy often involves the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) as a means of conception. IVF is a reproductive technology that involves the fertilization of an egg with sperm outside the body, in a laboratory setting. The resulting embryos are then transferred to the surrogate's uterus for gestation and pregnancy.

The typical process of surrogacy involving IVF can be outlined as follows: Selection of Surrogate: The intended parents usually work with a surrogacy agency or directly with a surrogate to find a suitable candidate who is willing to carry their child.

Medical Evaluation: The surrogate undergoes a series of medical and psychological evaluations to assess her physical and mental suitability for surrogacy. These evaluations help ensure the well-being of the surrogate and the success of the surrogacy process.

Preparation of the Surrogate's Uterus: Before the embryo transfer, the surrogate's menstrual cycle may be synchronized with the intended mother or an egg donor (if donor eggs are used). This synchronization helps prepare the surrogate's uterus for embryo implantation.

Ovarian Stimulation and Egg Retrieval: In most cases, the intended mother or an egg donor undergoes ovarian stimulation with hormonal medications to produce multiple mature eggs. These eggs are then retrieved through a minor surgical procedure.

Fertilization: In the laboratory, the retrieved eggs are fertilized with the intended father's sperm or donor sperm to create embryos. This step typically involves IVF or a similar assisted reproductive technology.

Embryo Transfer: Once the embryos have developed, one or more of them are transferred to the surrogate's uterus. The number of embryos transferred depends on various factors, including the surrogate's and intended parents' preferences and any legal restrictions.

Pregnancy and Birth: If the embryo implantation is successful, the surrogate carries the pregnancy to term and gives birth to the child. After birth, legal processes, such as adoption or parentage orders, may be required to establish the intended parents' legal rights and responsibilities.

It's important to note that the specific details of the surrogacy process, including the use of IVF, can vary based on individual circumstances, legal requirements, and medical recommendations. Consulting with medical professionals and legal experts specializing in reproductive medicine and surrogacy is essential to navigate the process successfully. There are best ivf specialists like Dr Firuza Parekh who can guide you with information on ivf, ivf treatment, ivf procedure, surrogacy.

[911-ls-whats-your-emergency]

[[BOAT SHOW SPOILERS BELOW]]

Okay but something that’s I haven’t seen being talked about enough is that Avery froze her eggs?? Very recently apparently. So all these characterizations of her as the one who wants to stay childless and free (as compared to both men who’ve said they want the house and the kids) are totally unsupported.

In fact, as someone who looked into egg freezing recently, it’s a pretty intensive and expensive process, so she wouldn’t do that if she didnt seriously see kids as a possibility in her future. Obviously the timing and circumstances could be better, but that woman wants children! It doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll decide to go through with this pregnancy, but it does make it an extremely difficult decision for her.